Event To Fetch Dog-training Funds Bt

January 30, 1997|By THERESA SULLIVAN BARGER; Courant Staff Writer

GRANBY — You walk your dog. You play fetch.

So how about playing a board game with your pooch?

East Coast Assistance Dogs, a local nonprofit organization that trains dogs to help people with disabilities, is planning a Canine Tournament fund-raiser. The featured attraction: a new board gamethat gives dogs and their owners a chance to practice their skills and have fun. It's being developed in Illinois and it's called ``My Dog Can Do That.''

When Lu Picard tried out the game with her children and dogs, it was an immediate success, said her husband, Dale Picard. The Picards co-founded East Coast Assistance Dogs Inc.

The company trains dogs to open doors, pull wheelchairs, pick up items and turn light switches on and off. With their training, the dogs increase their owners' independence.

The cost of training a service dog is about $10,000, said Jane Archer, executive director of East Coast Assistance Dogs. So, in addition to seeking grants, the organization is planning the Canine Tournament to help clients pay for their dogs. About 15 people are waiting for service dogs from East Coast Assistance Dogs, Archer said.

Any dog that can sit, shake or speak and gets along with other dogs is qualified to play, Archer said. The game consists of the dog's owner drawing a card from one of three piles: beginner, intermediate and advanced. Each card gives a task the team must perform. The owner might have to command the dog to wag its tail or have the dog sit and stay while the owner walks 10 feet away. The dog could be asked to lift alternating paws, wear a silly hat, or walk under a stick without knocking it off two chairs, Archer said.

If the dog performs the task, the card tells the contestant how many places to move forward. The first team to move its piece to the finish wins.

Simsbury resident Cheri Kotler has signed up to play with her golden retriever Daffy and a friend is going to enter the tournament too.

``We figure we're just going to beat the pants off everybody,'' she joked. Kotler, who is with the Southern Berkshire Golden Retriever Club, said she thought playing the game would be an enjoyable alternative to field competitions. Besides, she said, she believes in what East Coast Assistance Dogs is doing. ``They're a wonderful organization,'' she said. ``They're helping people have mobility who never would be able to otherwise.''

The game was invented by Dan and Marcia Sherry of Illinois to encourage owners to bond with their dogs, learn to control them and teach them obedience. Dan Sherry owns The ID Store in Mount Prospect, Ill., which manufactures identification tags for dogs and cats.

``[The board game] `Twister' made people the actual playing pieces. This game makes dogs the playing pieces,'' Sherry said.

When owners and dogs play ``My Dog Can Do That,'' the dogs are learning and the pair is bonding, he said. ``We're trying to provide the motivation to obey in a fun way.''